April Fool's Day
by Tsuki's Angel
Summary: If someone asked me how I ended up marrying Natsume, I would tell them it started with an April Fool's joke. Of course they wouldn't believe me, and I don't think I would either, but that's the funny thing about life. ONESHOT NxM


**First of April, my birthday month. Happy April Fool's Day. Enjoy.**

**Disclaiming . . . disclaimed. I do not own anything.**

**Happy Reading!**

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**April Fool's Day**

**By Tsuki's Angel**

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Lovely. It was April Fool's Day. I had always hated this day. Every single year, my friends had pulled some mean prank on me. Like last year, they told me that Natsume was going to commit suicide. I freaked out and ran to his house just to figure out the worst thing that happened to him was that he was alone. I didn't get it, until Natsume explained to me that they tricked me.

This year, I wasn't going to let that happen, though. I kept an eye on those evil people. They are _not_ going to get me this year. It wasn't going to happen. Nope. I was on twenty-four-hour-prankster-alert. I even thought twice before taking a bite out of my sandwich at lunch.

"We're not going to hurt you, you know."

I jumped in my seat and swerved around to see Koko snickering. "Koko! You scared me."

"That was kind of the point," he said, sitting down at the lunch table across from me. "Mind if I have a bit of this? Thanks." Koko took my sandwich and polished it off in four giant bites.

"Hey," I whined. "You know that peanut butter and banana is my favorite."

"I can see why," he said, licking some excess peanut butter off of his fingers. "It's _good_."

I rolled my eyes, "You owe me. No pranks this year."

Koko raised an eyebrow. "Now, what makes you think that I'll pull a prank on you, Mikan?"

"Because you were ruthless the past seven years!"

Koko grinned, "Ah, hard work does pay off."

"Just you wait, Kokoro Yome," I threatened. "I'm going to get you this year."

"Good luck on that," he replied, unfazed and still smiling goofily.

"And I'll have you know that sandwich had pickle paste all over it," I huffed.

"Nice try," Koko said rolling his eyes. "That's not going to work."

"What's not going to work?"

I tilted my head back to see Natsume hovering over me, looking bored. I grinned and immediately pointed to Koko, who suddenly looked nervous.

"He doesn't believe that I put pickle paste in my sandwich," I accused.

Natsume raised an eyebrow, "What the heck is pickle paste?"

Koko guffawed in triumph, "I knew it."

I sighed, "Okay, I didn't put pickle paste in my sandwich. I don't even know what that is."

"I don't think it _exists_," Natsume replied blandly, sitting down next to me, and eating my chips. I smacked his hand.

"Don't touch," I said.

He shrugged and took another chip, "These are good."

I blew hair out of my face, "Boys really don't care about stealing other people's food, do they?"

"Nah," Koko said, taking some chip for himself.

The lunch bell rang as soon as I had decided to leave. I picked up the remains of my lunch and tossed it into a nearby trash can. Natsume lazily followed me to our next class—English with Narumi. We took out seats in the back of the class.

"Welcome, welcome!" Narumi cheered. "Today, I'm going to have you all do something _very_ special."

The class groaned. _Something special_ meant something really long a tedious that only seemed to be fun to him.

"Now, now," Narumi chided. "Let's put on a happy face. Today, write about your past April Fool's Days. It could be anything from pulling pranks to getting tricked."

Anna, a girl with sugary pink locks, raised her hand, "What if we don't have one?"

"Make one up," Narumi said, cheery. "Or, write about a prank you've seen someone do."

The class began to write. I tapped my pencil against my chin, thinking how to summarize my past experiences so that I can actually finish writing them by the end of this class period. I began to write.

_My past April Fool's Days have not been pleasant at all. My friends can be so cruel. Every year, they send my on a wild goose chase, saying that something is wrong. Usually it's about Natsume—_

I erased my last four words. That was incredibly misleading.

—_It's always about Natsume. I think it's because Natsume doesn't want to participate in their games. Now that I think about it, Natsume was always very forgetful about April Fool's Day. He never cared for it and—_

I heard laughing. I turned to look at Natsume chuckling at me. I glared at him.

"You peeked!" I whispered furiously. "Peeker!"

"This is a report about _you_," Natsume smirked. "Not _me_."

I stuck my tongue out at him, "Stupid."

—_he just ignores everyone else. He's an idiot. Stupid Natsume. My past experiences are hilarious to everyone. I hate April Fool's Day. I will never forget the time they told me that Natsume was going to play a game with me back when we were nine. They told me to meet him at a park, but when I got there, there was a note telling me to go to the bakery. Then there was another note there, and it kept going on and on and on until I ended up at Natsume's house, where it said 'April Fools'._

I wrote for the rest of the hour, explaining how much this stupid holiday made me worry. Now that I realized it, they always had some clever way of hiding the trick, so that I _would _get tricked. I didn't know how fast time flew until Narumi told us to stop writing and hand in our papers.

"Ouch," I said, flexing my hand. "It's cramping!"

"You wrote too much," Natsume drawled.

"You wrote too little," I said.

The bell rang abruptly after that, and we the end of the day was close. I just had to watch on everyone for a few more hours, and then I will be safely at home.

**. . .**

I sat on my couch, eating pretzel sticks and orange juice, and watching _Mamma Mia_. I sang along to the lyrics of a song, until, suddenly, my phone rang. I almost jumped out of my seat. _Stay alert, Mikan_, I thought. I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I said.

"Mikan?" It was Permy.

"Perms!" I said. "What's up?"

"Nothing," she replied. "Wait—are you watching _Mamma Mia_, again?"

"So?" I countered. "What if I am?"

Permy laughed a bit, "I didn't say anything, but okay."

"What did you call for?" I asked carefully.

"How was your day?" She was stalling.

"Terrible," I deadpanned. "Natsume kept teasing me for being too jumpy."

"Why are you jumpy?"

"No reason," I said a bit too quickly.

"Uh huh," Permy said, not at all convinced. "Anyways, are you doing anything else important today? I was wondering whether you wanted to hang out or not. It's raining and I'm bored."

"Can't," I replied. "I'm staying home. I have homework."

"_Homework_?" Permy said, disbelieving. "You're _Mikan_. Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you're too sick to hang out, after all."

"Hey," I said. "Not nice."

Permy laughed, "Sorry. I'll let you be. Have fun doing _homework_."

I hung up. She can make you kind of annoyed. I pouted when I realized my favorite part just passed by. I pressed the reverse button on my remote to the exact scene I was looking for. Then the doorbell rang. I sighed. What the heck was up with these people? Can't a girl watch a movie in piece? I trudged my way to the door and opened it. My eyes widened at the sight.

It was Natsume.

Except, he didn't look like Natsume. He looked like a Natsume that was extremely worried. That was kind of odd. Natsume was _never_ worried. Ever. I mean it. Even when I was falling off the monkey bars, he wasn't worried. I raised an eyebrow. He was soaking wet from the rain that was pouring outside.

"Eh? Natsume?" I said, blinking. "What are you doing here?"

"Where is he? Which way did he go?" Natsume asked, breathing heavily. "What did he do to you? _Nobody_ touches you but me. Now, where the hell did that guy go?"

I shook my head, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. Who are you talking about?"

"The rapist!" Natsume yelled. "Imai called me and said that she saw a rapist in your neighborhood, and he came here!"

I blinked again, this time, placing my hand to his forehead to check if he had a fever or not. He didn't. "Okay, let's just get you inside and into some dry clothes. You can borrow something of my dad's."

After Natsume took a shower, I gave him my dad's grey sweats and black t-shirt to wear. They were considerably baggy on him, but it would have to do. Natsume walked straight out of the bathroom, and chucked the towel into the hamper, not bothering to dry his hair with it, even though it was dripping wet. I brought an extra towel, just in case and we both sat down on the couch, while _Mamma Mia_ continued to play.

"Now," I said calmly. "What's this about a rapist?"

Natsume didn't reply. I became extremely worried about him. He had a nervous and panicky expression on his face. I could help but feel my heart go out to him.

"Natsume?" I asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. His tense position seemed to loosen up and relax. He turned his body to face me, a serious expression on his face, now.

Before I had the chance to say anything else, Natsume slumped his head onto my shoulder, and wrapped his arms around my waist. I was confused. Why was Natsume acting so different? What on earth had caused him to experience such a change in attitude?

"I thought that he would get you," Natsume mumbled into my shirt. "I seriously thought I was going to murder someone."

"W-why?" I stuttered. I was still surprised.

"Imai told me there was a rapist after you," Natsume said, pulling back, looking at me.

"Natsume," I said slowly. "There is not rapist in my neighborhood."

"Then why did Imai—"

It clicked. In both my mind and Natsume's. My jaw dropped as I realized that Natsume had just been pranked by Hotaru. I saw the expression change on his face again. It was now angry. Very angry.

"I swear, when I get my hands on Imai tomorrow, she's gonna _die—_"

I started laughing. I didn't know why, but I couldn't control my laughter and I just burst into hysterics, while Natsume looked a bit peeved that I was laughing at him.

"Natsume," I said between spasms of giggles. "I…thought…you were…_smarter_ than me!"

He grunted, "Imai's very convincing."

"You shouldn't have believed Hotaru," I said. "It's April Fool's Day. Don't trust anyone. _Especially_ Hotaru."

Natsume didn't reply, and turned his head away. He didn't even laugh. I stopped smiling and turned his head to face me. I didn't quite know what he was feeling. His eyes looked into mine, concerned and…scared?

"Natsume, what's wrong? I was just a joke," I said.

"It wasn't _just_ a joke," he replied. "I don't think you understand. I was ready to _murder_ someone the second I heard those words from Imai."

"Why?"I asked. "Why didn't you think about what Hotaru said? I wouldn't have fallen for it. It's so unrealistic."

"You don't get it, do you?" Natsume said, getting up, and pacing. He ran a hand through his wet hair. "Mikan, I wasn't thinking. As soon as I heard her say that, I ran out my door."

I sighed and I patted the seat next to me, motioning him to sit back down. He sat down, his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. I got up and sat in front of him, bringing the extra towel with me. I threw it over his head and started to dry his hair. He lifted his head, like I predicted he would.

Now, this _really_ started to worry me. Natsume _never_ behaved like this. Maybe he really did have a fever. There was no other explanation for his weird behavior. I stared at him a bit more. Maybe Koko put something in his drink. I heard he went to Natsume's place after school. Or maybe it was Luca. It was always the quiet ones… Then I realized that Natsume had just called me _Mikan_. Not Polka. Not Idiot, but _Mikan_. Something was _definitely_ wrong with him.

"Why?" I asked out of nowhere.

"Why what?" Natsume asked, still looking down.

"Why did the chicken cross the road," I said sarcastically. When he didn't say anything I sighed and asked the real question, "Why…did you run out the door?"

"Because," Natsume replied.

"…Because…?" I pressed.

He looked up into my eyes, his face only inches away from mine.

"Because I'm in love with you, Mikan."

I stopped breathing. Did he really just say what I thought he did? He didn't mean it. It was an April Fool's Day prank, wasn't it? No, it couldn't be. Natsume wouldn't do that. He didn't like pranks. Natsume? In love with _me_? I couldn't believe it.

"Ha," I said. "Hahaha! Nice one, Natsume. I was fooled. You can cut the act now."

He didn't cut the act. My heart started to flutter. What if what he said was true? Did I love him back? I stared at him a bit more. If what he said was true, all of his behavior would make sense. Suddenly I knew why all of the pranks pulled on me in the past involved me ending up with Natsume. _They were setting me up_. My eyes widened a bit.

"You're telling the truth…" I whispered.

Natsume continued to stare into my eyes. I still held the cream colored towel on his head. Natsume moved his hands to mine, which were on the sides of his head. I moved my hand to brush some hair out of his eyes. He moved his vacant hand to the side of my face, leaning forward and kissing me. My eyes widened, but as soon as they did, they shut close and I melted, wrapping my arms around his neck. He broke the kiss to lean his forehead on mine. The towel slipped off his head and fell on his shoulders.

"I wasn't kidding."

"I think I caught that," I said a bit dizzy.

"I loved you. Back when we were twelve. For two seconds. I've always wondered how it would feel like to kiss you," he said, smirking.

My jaw dropped and I stood up, "I knew it! You liar! You scum! You mean—"

He got up, quieted me with a kiss, and whispered something in my ear.

"April Fools."

And he kissed me again.

**. . . : : . . .**

If someone asked me how I ended up marrying Natsume, I would tell them it all started with an April Fool's joke. Of course they wouldn't believe me, and I don't think I would believe anyone if they told me the same. But that's the weird thing about life. The best of things can come in the strangest of ways.

**. . . : : . . .**

_~Fin~_

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**Do you like it? I didn't bother to check it over, so sorry for any mistakes. I wanted to do something for this little April Fool's Day.**

**Oh, and did you figure out the prank that **_**Google**_** pulled? They said they changed their name to **_**Topeka**_**, and that **_**Topeka**_** was getting renamed **_**Google**_**. I actually believed it, but then I realized it was April Fool's Day. I'm glad it isn't renamed **_**Topeka**_**. I like **_**Google**_** much better. :D**

**Happy April First.**

**Reviews are love.**

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